Buckley vs Malott: Can a Top-10 Welterweight Survive Hostile Edmonton?

The UFC rolls back into Rogers Place on Saturday for its fourth Edmonton stop, and the main event is a genuine crossroads scrap. Joaquin Buckley, 32 and ranked inside the Top 10 across both rankings sets, puts his place in the welterweight pecking order on the line against Canada's Mike Malott, who walks in on a four-fight win streak and his sixth consecutive bout on home soil.

Buckley's problem is written plainly in his recent results. After opening his welterweight run with six straight wins, he's dropped two in a row, out-wrestled badly in both. Malott, meanwhile, hasn't lost since 2023 and is coming off a third-round stoppage of Gilbert Burns in his first UFC headliner back in April — a result that handed him the keys to the so-called Maple Leaf Militia.

The stylistic question is obvious. Buckley gets taken down and controlled, and Malott would love nothing more than to drag him to the mat with a crowd roaring behind him. The counterpoint: Malott isn't the wrestler that Kamaru Usman or Sean Brady is, and Buckley remains one of the single most dangerous one-shot finishers at 170. If the Canadian overextends, he pays.

A Co-Main With Real Stakes

The flyweight co-main carries title implications and a little needle. Erin Blanchfield (14-2, 8-1 in the UFC, #4 in the media rankings) has quietly built a resume that screams contender — she beat Rose Namajunas by decision the last time the promotion visited Edmonton, then avenged her only UFC loss by submitting Tracy Cortez in New York. One more statement and she's knocking on the champion's door.

Standing across from her is Jasmine Jasudavicius, who also won on the previous Edmonton card, submitting Ariane da Silva for a Performance of the Night bonus. She rebounded from a loss to Manon Fiorot with an April decision over Karine Silva. The tension? Jasudavicius once handed Blanchfield's close friend and training partner Fatima Kline — now 10-1 and ranked #6 at strawweight — her first pro loss, and she hasn't let anyone forget it.

Whoever wins has Alexa Grasso to chase. The 18-5-1 Grasso currently sits as the clubhouse leader for the next crack at gold after beating Fiorot at Noche UFC, so both women know a clean victory Saturday is the fastest route into that conversation.

Elsewhere on the card, Canadian veteran Kyle Nelson welcomes Contender Series grad Cristian Perez — a 27-year-old with finishes in 12 of his 15 wins — to the Octagon, while middleweights Marc-Andre Barriault and Kyle Daukaus try to steady their footing. Daukaus is coming off a first-round loss to Bo Nickal, and Barriault owns just one win in his last six despite back-to-back Fight of the Night bonuses. Something has to give for both.